SPORTS

Skyhawk Softball |Donley Canary - Head Coach

Donley Canary enters his 14th season at the helm of the Skyhawks. Canary guided the UT Martin softball team to its second Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship, OVC Tournament title and NCAA Regional since 2009 before finding himself in the 2013 OVC Tournament championship game. Amongst numerous team accomplishments, he won his 400th career game on April 20, 2013 and the Skyhawks marched to their 11th OVC tournament in the past 12 years.

In the past 13 seasons, Canary has not only become the program’s all-time winningest coach, but also transformed the Skyhawk softball team into a respected and perennial OVC contender. Canary guided the program to its first-ever OVC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2009 and its first OVC regular season championship in 2010. As a whole, the Skyhawks have won regular season championships in both 2010 and 2012 along with OVC Tournament titles in 2009 and 2012.

Now after 13 seasons, Canary sports a 434-316-2 won-loss-tie record and his teams have advanced to the OVC tournament as the No. 1 seed twice, No. 3 seed three times and No. 4 seed three times, twice as a No. 5 seed and once as a No. 2 & 5 seed. Canary has coached 69 All-OVC selections in his 13 seasons. Twenty-two of those have been named to the All-OVC First Team, 10 were named All-OVC Second Team, three were All-OVC Honorable Mentions along with 23 named to the OVC All-Tournament Team, including two OVC Tournament MVPs. Canary has also had 19 OVC All-Newcomer team members which was newly created for the 2006 season. Canary is currently the fifth all-time winningest coach in the OVC with 434 career wins and is the fourth winningest among active coaches in the conference.

The transformation began in 2002, during Canary’s first season, when the Skyhawks posted a 25-33 win-loss record. The Skyhawks were lauded as the second most improved Division I softball program in the nation.

Canary guided the team to 14 more victories than the year before. Much of the team’s success was because of a stellar recruiting class. The team advanced to the OVC tournament as the No. 3 seed. In the tournament, the Skyhawks suffered a 6-1 loss to No. 6 seed Eastern Illinois in the first round. The Skyhawks defeated No. 5 Southeast Missouri State, 5-1, in the second round and then lost to Eastern Illinois 5-1 in the consolation bracket elimination game.

With the bar raised for the 2003 season, Canary and the Skyhawks once again answered the challenge. The team proved its success in 2002 was not a fluke by winning 21 games and The Skyhawks knocked off Eastern Kentucky in the first round 4-0 before falling to eventual OVC Champion Tennessee Tech and Samford.

The Skyhawks were cruising. In 2004, the team won 40 games and followed that by winning 33 games in 2005. Canary and the Skyhawks were on a roll in 2006 winning 25 games and then claiming 30 wins in 2007.

In 2008, the Canary-led Skyhawk squad missed the OVC Tournament, for the first time in the coach’s tenure. The regular season came down to the final weekend with UT Martin facing Samford and the winner of the three-game series earning the final berth into the postseason. After claiming the opening game 5-3, Samford was able to take the final two games of the series by a score of 2-1 in each. During the season Canary passed the 200 win plateau in his head coaching career. The milestone win came on the road, April 6, against Canary’s alma mater Tennessee Tech by a score of 2-1.

One of the big highlights of Canary’s coaching career came in 2009 when his team entered the OVC Tournament as the No. 4 seed and rallied after dropping the opening game to win the next five games and claim the program’s first OVC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth. The OVC Tournament run also marked the lowest seed to ever win the tournament along with also being the first time a team had come out of the first round losers bracket to eventually win the title.

The Skyhawks and Canary won their first regular season championship in 2010. The coach guided the Skyhawks to a 47-11 won-loss record. By winning the regular season title, the Skyhawks earned the right to host the OVC tournament.

In 2011, Canary was faced with replacing four four-year starters with a host of newcomers. The Skyhawks finished third in the regular season with a 19-10 slate and overall with a 34-24 record.

The Skyhawks rallied around a trio of seniors – Chelsea Jones, Jenny Bain and Erica Duke – in 2012, winning the regular season OVC title and the OVC Tournament crown. With the tournament title, the Skyhawks advanced to the NCAA Regional where they played eventual national champion Alabama and Georgia Tech.

Along with the proven leadership of the three seniors, the Skyhawks reaped the efforts of three freshmen in the starting lineup. When the dust settled on the season, the accolades came pouring in. Jones was named the OVC Pitcher of the Year. Taylor, a junior from Brownsville was named the league’s Player of the Year and Canary picked up his second OVC Coach of the Year honor.

Jones and Taylor made the NFCA All-Region team, and Taylor was named an Easton All-American, in addition to being named a Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American.

In 2013, the Skyhawks had to rebound from the loss of three key seniors. Looking to reload, rather than rebuild, the Skyhawks saw the emergence of sophomore Kenzi Tate who shattered numerous program records en route to being named tabbed an All-OVC first team honoree along with NFCA Division I All-Region. Taylor capped her illustrious career with yet another All-OVC honor while setting new program records in both single season and career steals. The Skyhawks belted an OVC-leading 51 home runs while driving in 238 RBIs en route to a 37-20 record on the year and a spot in the OVC Tournament title game.

2014 was a year of transition, capitalized by the loss of three seniors and a key returner injury led the Skyhawks to a 27-27-1 record and No. 6 seed in the OVC Tournament. Despite the overall record, Canary notched his 200th career OVC victory with a 6-5 decision at Austin Peay on May 3. Highlighting the year was the play of OVC Freshman of the Year Carly Gonzales. Along with the league’s top freshman honor, Gonzales was named to the All-OVC second team and an All-Newcomer after pacing the team with a .328 batting average, while hitting one home run, 17 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.

Canary’s teams have also excelled in the classroom, earning the OVC Academic Award in 2005 and 2014 along with currently being the team that owns the highest grade point average over the last five years according to the National Fast pitch Coaches Association.

Canary came to UT Martin from Tennessee Tech where he held various positions in athletics since 1993. He served as director of athletic fund-raising and assistant softball coach during the 2000-01 seasons, amassing a 44-20 record. Canary also served as an assistant baseball coach for the Golden Eagles from 1993 -2000 season. During that time Tech claimed a 193-235-1 record highlighted by a regular season and tournament OVC championship in 1997.

Canary is a former Academic All-American baseball player from 1973-77 and graduate of Tennessee Tech University. He was inducted into the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 in recognition of his outstanding playing career.

An All-OVC outfielder, Canary led the Golden Eagles with a .429 batting average and was named All-South and received the Academic All-American award following the 1976 season. Canary was the top batter in the Golden Eagle line up during the 1974 and 1976 seasons. In 1974, he led Tech with a .327 average at the plate and 1976 average of .429 still sits as third all-time in Golden Eagle baseball history.

Canary also sits at fourth in walks with 39 and sixth in at-bats per strikeout with 27.2. On the career walks list, Canary still holds the top spot with 134 free passes during his tenure.

He earned his master’s degree from the University of Tennessee in 1980. Canary and his wife, Jenny (also a Tennessee Tech graduate), have one son, David who is currently an assistant coach at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. Jenny currently works in Skyhawk Athletics as the department’s ticket manager.